Running-board attachment for street-cars



(No Model.)

WIGGINS. RUNNING BOARD ATTAGHMENTPOR STREET CARS. No. 560,454. Patented May 19, 1896.

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UNITED STATES PATENT FFIcE,

IVILLIAM \VIGGINS, OF BROCKTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

RUNNlNG-BOARDATTACHMENT FOR STREET-CARS.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent N 0. 560,454, dated May 19, 1896.

Application filed March 6, 1 8 9 6.

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM WIGGINs, of Brockton, county of Plymouth, and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Running-Board Attachments for Street-Cars, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention has for its object the production of means to prevent the dangerous practice by passengers of standing on the running-board of street-cars, on the inner side, or that adjacent the other track. Oftentimes the space between passing street-cars is so small that persons standing on the in-, ner running-board of an open car run great danger of bodily harm, and accidents from this cause have been of frequent occurrence.

In accordance with my present invention simple and effective means are provided for making it impossible to obtain foothold on the running-board at one side of a car when desired, and preferably the protective devices for the two sides of the car are so connected that when one running-board is in use the other is protected from usage, and vice versa.

Figure 1 is an end elevation of an open street-car with the platform and runningboards in section and with one embodiment of my invention applied thereto,-and Fig. 2

is a perspective detail of one end of the running-board and its protective attachment.

The usual running-boards a, supported firmly upon rigid hangers or brackets 19,.may be and are of any well-known and usual construction, and to the outer edges of the said boards I pivotally connect, as by hinges a two-part protectors c c. As shown at the left, Figs. 1 and 2, the lower member 0 is of such width that it may at times lie flat uponthe top of the running-board a, the other member 0 at such time occupying a substantially vertical position, suitable hinge connections 0 holding the members 0 0 together. The member 0' may be kept from falling outward in various ways; but I prefer to make use of a simple upright guide 0 at one or both ends of said member, the guide cooperating with a pin-c (see Fig. 2,) which not only keeps the member 0 from pulling out, but guides it so that its upper edge moves in a vertical plane when the protector is operated, closing the space between the car-floor and the upper edge of the member 0. One or more preferably sector-shaped lugs c are secured to the under side of the member 6,

extending through slots a in the running-' boards a, when the device is inoperative, and a chain, cable, or other suitable flexible connection f is attached at its ends to the opposite sectors of the two members 0 and passed over guide-sheaves f f. The sheaves may be supported in any suitable manner, being herein shown as secured to the under side of the car and above the inner lower corner of the lugs 0 which are preferably grooved in their curved faces to receive the flexible connections f. The saidconnection is of such length that when one of the members 0 is down upon the running-board, as shown at the left, Fig. 1, the other two-part protector c 0 will be straightened and drawn up into the position shown at the right, making a downwardly-inclined surface, upon which it is impossible to stand. 11611 a member 0 is folded down, persons maystand thereon just as they would upon the running-board. Should the operative protector be accidentally depressed, it would tend to raise the protector at the other side of the car, and to prevent this I provide a locking device for each protector, shown as a spring-catch 7a, which hooks over the lower edge of the slot 01/ of the running-board when the protector is in inoperative position. hen the relative posit-ion of the protectorsis to be reversed, the catch is released, and the conductor or motorman by pressing down upon the protector in operative position depresses it till its catch engages, the other or released protector being thereby raised into operative position.

My invention is not restricted to the precise construction and arrangement herein shown, as Various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In an apparatus of the class described, the running-board, a two-part jointed protector therefor pivotally connected to. the outer edge of and above said running-board,

means to bring the members of the protector into alinement and inclined to the board, and an independent vertical guide for and in engagement with the upper edge of the protector, substantially as described.

2. In an apparatus of the class described, the running-board, a protective member pivotally connected to the outer edge thereof, and above the board, a lock to normally retain said member against the board, and independent means to move the protective member into operative position when unlocked, substantially as described.

3. A street-car having a running-board at each side thereof, a protector for each board, connections between said protectors, whereby when one is in operative the other will be in inoperative position, and a lock to retain the protectors in predetermined position, substantially as described.

4. A street-car having a running-board, a two-part longitudinally-jointed protector therefor pivotally connected to the outer edge of and above the board, a stationary vertical guide for and in engagement with the inner member of the protector, a lock to normally retain said protector in inoperative bent position, upon the running-board, and independent means to move said protector into extended position, whereby the two parts thereof form a continuous inclined surface above the running-board, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

IVILLIAM WIGGINS.

\Vitnesses:

NATHANIEL D. TOPPAN, GEORGE A. TORREY. 

